The Oldham-born broadcaster officially succeeded Chris Moyles at 6.30am on Monday morning (September 24), opening his first breakfast show with 'Paris' by Jay-Z and Kanye West followed by Otto Knows track 'Million Voices'.

"So, this is happening. This is... actually happening," Grimshaw said in his opening link. "Good morning, Great Britain, and welcome to this, a brand new breakfast show on BBC Radio 1. Hi. My name is Nick Grimshaw, good morning everybody."

After quipping that he hoped to stay in his position as breakfast show host "until the country uprises and I get thrown back to the night time", Grimshaw namechecked previous Radio 1 breakfast show hosts including Moyles and Sara Cox, saying that it was "time to follow in the footsteps of some of my favourite people... and do the very difficult job of talking inbetween records".

Grimshaw continued: "It's quite a surreal day for me. I've been dreaming of this since I was a little child, and now it is day one of the big job. I'm nervous, I'm excited, but I'm happy and - more than anything - just desperate to get on with it. So, shall we do it? Let's do the Radio 1 breakfast show!"

Grimshaw later told listeners about how he had gone about choosing his first song, recalling that Moyles played 'God is a DJ' by Pink during his first breakfast show and that Cox had elected to open her breakfast show debut with 'Let Me Entertain You' by Robbie Williams.

"There was nothing in the playlist that had a message, that really suited... and I guess it's a little bit about what I want the music to be like," Grimshaw said. "I want to play big pop songs that are good."

Styles revealed that the band are in the middle of a three-day shoot for video footage for "tour screens" for their forthcoming live shows, and Grimshaw joked that he would need to get "a new friend" during the band's time on the road.

Doctor Who actor Matt Smith also phoned into the show, congratulating Grimshaw on his appointment and playing 'Wheel Of Four Tunes' with him.